Lightning unveil new practice facility at Ice Sports Forum

Since taking ownership eight years ago, Jeff Vinik has piece by piece transformed all aspects of the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise into a world-class organization.
On Wednesday, the Lightning unveiled their latest upgraded piece, a brand-new, state-of-the-art practice facility at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon.

The upgraded training grounds, privately funded at a cost of $7.5 million, are massive, coming in at 18,300 square feet, nearly four times the size of their old digs. By comparison, the space is bigger even than the Lightning's 14,500-square foot locker room and training area at AMALIE Arena.
"Jeff Vinik bought this team back in 2010 and we talk about transformation all the time," Lightning CEO Steve Griggs said at Wednesday's unveiling ceremony. "We talk about world class. Everything that we have touched, especially downtown with AMALIE Arena, has been world class, and we've transformed everything, whether you talk about the brand, community, the hockey team itself as well as the arena. But the one thing we hadn't really touched was the practice facility."
Until now.

The Lightning certainly have a world-class practice facility to call home. Step through the double doors on the opposite side of the Ice Sports Forum's public entrance and you're immediately greeted by a mural on the left-hand wall with a sign that reads "Our Commitment to Service" and pictures of Bolts in the community like Ondrej Palat and his wife Barbora at a Metropolitan Ministries event or head coach Jon Cooper, forward Tyler Johnson and Tony Colton, a friend of the Lightning who succumbed to his battle with pediatric cancer last summer, from the annual Coop's Catch for Kids charity fishing tournament.
The right-hand wall features pictures of the Stanley Cup and Prince of Wales trophies, with the years the Lightning won them, next to a sign that reads simply "The Standard".
These reminders of Lightning history along with motivational displays of the organization's core values and beliefs can be seen on the walls all over.
At the far end of the facility from the entrance, the gym is the most notable upgrade. Previously, the Lightning weight room at the Ice Sports Forum was about the size of a standard hotel room with only a handful of machines and equipment. When large numbers of players trained simultaneously at events like development camp or training camp, players would often spill over into the adjacent meal room to conduct their training exercises.
Now, the gym is roughly 10 times the size as the old facility at 3,468-square feet. High ceilings make the space feel even bigger. Large windows throughout provide pleasant, natural lighting. Weight stations and machines line the perimeter while the middle features a synthetic-turf surface for on-ground drills.
Stepping back from the gym, a hydrotherapy room includes a 3,200-gallon underwater treadmill along with video monitoring that used to be housed behind sheets of plywood deep in the bowels of AMALIE Arena. Next to it are hot and cold tubs, a steam room and a sauna.
Across the hall is a new feature: a 24-seat video room with plush leather chairs, theater seating, a 90-inch main screen and a 65-inch supplemental screen.
The locker room is more befitting a Stanley Cup-contending team too with about three times the space of the old locker room, dark-wood stalls for 28 players and a large, lighted Lightning logo on the ceiling. Nearby a lounge with couch areas, televisions and a fully-equipped kitchen offers players a comfortable setting to rest after a hard day of training.

"It's got every amenity you need for a practice facility," Griggs said. "Obviously in this day in age with free agency and with keeping players, you need to have a world-class practice facility."
While local media got a tour of the new facility, the Lightning opened up the on-ice portion of development camp on the adjacent ice rinks. Tampa Bay director of player development Stacy Roest, who oversees development camp, called the upgraded facility "unreal."
"I don't think I've even seen it all yet. The gym is very impressive, the kitchen, it's impressive. The (players) were just walking around for the first hour. They couldn't believe that they were in such a nice facility. Very impressed."
The Ice Sports Forum has served as the Lightning's practice facility since 1997, and the Bolts signed a 10-year lease extension in June of 2017 to continue training there.
"This is a momentous occasion for us, not only unveiling the training facility but also the recent signing of the extension of our partnership," Ice Sports Forum owner Tom Bradley said. "…The Lightning could have built this facility anywhere. They could have built it in their back yard, but in true fashion, they chose to keep it in the hockey community, in the youth hockey community, giving the youth the chance to see the dedication these athletes bring to the ice and practice every day, giving them a chance to see athletes such as Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman who are truly deserving of role-model status."